Dear Keith,
Cannot wait to watch you nightly again.
Alas there is one problem. In my area, Cablevision, despite months long requests from me in several phone calls and actually talking to their public relations department, seems determined not to carry it.
However, I would like to present an elegant solution for Current TV (if it is at all possible.)
Cause you know the gangs all here, and we all want to be onboard....
I am desperately writing you this open letter on DKos cause I know you are one of our folks and I hope that you (and/or your team,) reads this. The reason I am writing this here is because, for the life of me, I have been unable to find a way to contact Current TV to make this request. I cannot find phone numbers that have humans on the other line. Also I did not see any contact email info on the website that I thought worked; I tried one, but not hopeful.
So, to get on with it:
CAN CURRENT TV GO LIVE ON ROKU?
Right now, Current TV is in the lineup on ROKU NEWSCASTER. Unfortunately, this is a "best of" and not a live connection, where say, someone could actually enjoy watching your new show!
ROKU NEWSCASTER does carry live broadcasts. I found out about that during the Egyptian uprising. By Wednesday of that first week, when we were all watching it avidly, some very smart people at ROKU and AlJazzera got together and opened a live feed from AlJazeera Live. Viola! AlJazz had managed to find a way to be viewed in US homes which had previously been blocked.
And what an education that has been for me. I now regularly watch it on ROKU. Also, I have noticed that many people on this site refer to its live content (not just their website,) as well. Smart AlJazz and ROKU.
So, Keith, I just know that you and Mr. Gore can make this happen. I would like to point out the advantages:
1) you would greatly increase your audience who wouldn't be held hostage by Cablevision and other media monopolies. (always nice to get around those monopolies!)
2) you would be giving your audience an inexpensive way to keep current with your show...rather than cough up extra dough, squeezed by the corporatists who would only be too happy to take whatever money they could wring out of us....in other words, a nice populist gesture. (It would cost me a lot to switch to Dish, etc.)
3) You would be making popular a platform (ROKU) that could by-pass the mainstream media.....and yet get wide distribution, like that other invention, the 'internets'.
OK, I know you've got a lot to do with the show starting and all that, so I'll stop here. But please help us po' folks left out in the cold with this.
Just know that I (and I am sure WE,) will be all cheering you on.
Many thanks for all you do. (and oh, by the way, say Hi to Al for me! :-) )
My Best,
SeaTurtle
UPDATE
For those who do not know (as I did not before I was given one,) this is a ROKU box.
From Amazon's website:
Roku is a little box that allows you to instantly stream tons of entertainment on your TV. Watch over 100,000 movies and TV shows from Netflix, Amazon Instant Video, Hulu Plus and more. Listen to music on Pandora, or listen to your own iTunes playlists. Watch major sports, news, or original Internet programming. It's all available whenever you want it.
UPDATE 2
For those of you interested in further investigating ROKU (jeez, they should be paying me for this advertising...) "gooderservice" (h/t) provided this link for a data base of the ROKU channels.
This is a listing of news channels I copied from their 'NEWSCASTER" SECTION:
ROKU NEWSCASTER LINEUP
(Most of the following seem to operate ‘the day after’ and have a recording of the show the night before. There are podcasts and radio shows mixed in with tv shows. A lot of special interest stuff; too many to mention. At this glance, AlJazz wins. It’s the only one streaming LIVE.)
Al Jazeera Live
NASA – Live Nasa TV (I suppose unless there is something going on live, it is recordings of shows, plus on demand content)
CNET CHANNEL
CURRENT: Selection of shows
ESPN, espn radio, lots of shows,
NPR
NBC: Rachel and Chris and MTP, Nightly News, Today, Morning Blo, etc (no Ed)
ABC
CBS,
FOX
CNN
PBS
CSPAN
PRI (public radio international)
BBC & BBC RADIO (has some interesting choices.)
The ROKU is definitely a new platform for information and entertainment; hope it succeeds.